The wool blanket wrapping Sienna evaporated. Her arms fell outward into a cross as her burnt body levitated off the stone, higher and higher till she was even with the lower boughs of the trees. Tendrils of her red hair floated like seaweed waving in an unseen ocean. The hartstone's light rose from the stone slowly, then like lightning pierced straight into Sienna.
Sienna's arms flexed straight out, her back and neck arched, her mouth open toward the sky in a soundless scream. Her body glowed from the inside, brightening to a blinding white. Then multicolored flames burst upon her skin and licked up out of her body, burning away the blackened, charred decay, transforming it with a pearlescent glow.
Nikolai watched in awe as every inch of her body was covered in flames of red, orange, blue, green, and gold, purging away the scars and bruises and bites, the injuries that had caused her death. Nikolai fell to his knees, removing his hands from his ears, as her body lowered to the hartstone, the thumping pulse fading.
Once she lay upon the flat surface, the heartbeat of the stone dimmed to a distant echo. Sienna's chest rose and fell. She lifted an arm to her throat and sat up. Nikolai lurched to his feet but couldn't move forward, paralyzed with fear that this was all a dream. If so, he prayed he'd never wake up.
Sienna pushed herself up and stood off the stone with a stumble. Nikolai was there in a flash before she could fall, his hands on her bare waist. She looked up into his eyes. The same spark of beauty shone there, but now the green was flecked with bright gold. A star-bright aura haloed her skin, as if the cosmos had fallen to this spot and filled her body with its radiance. He could feel its heat vibrating up his hands and arms. He trembled as he continued to hold her, trying to convince himself this was real.
She lifted a hand to his jaw and smiled, speaking in a broken whisper. "I thought I'd lost you."
Clutching her to him with frantic speed, he let out a choked laugh. "You thought you lost me?" He buried his face into her hair, her smell of lavender-in-the-woods tinged with a third scent-fire. But not the sickening smell of charred flesh. The smell of wildfire when it devours a forest, warning all creatures that it is dangerous and wields power, demanding all onlookers to bow in awe. Nikolai reveled in her smell, the softness of her skin, wrapping her so tight he feared he might crush her. His hand slid down her back and braced her close.
"Sienna. There's something you should know."
"What is it?" she asked, her face still buried in the crook of his neck.
He stepped away, though it nearly ripped out his heart to do so, and turned, half expecting them to be back in wolf form. Sienna peered around him slowly. He took her hand and walked alongside her.
Allora walked forward and met them, her smile the kind one might bestow on a long-lost friend finally come home. In fact, that is precisely who Sienna was. She had left this realm, her spirit journeying elsewhere. And now, she was back. Transformed, though Nikolai could not yet detect precisely how.
"This is Allora Godrick," he said. "You know her as … Duchess."
Sienna gasped and jumped, squeezing his hand on instinct. Her gaze moved from Allora to Nikolai, a slight frown pinching her brow.
"It can't be."
"I know it's hard to believe," said Allora, stepping forward. "But it's true. I am your friend, the one you call Duchess."
"I don't understand," said Sienna, shaking her head, taking in the sight of the other three behind her. "So you were human all along?"
"We are hart wolves first. Humans second." She seemed at a loss for words to explain, then gestured toward the others behind her. "You know my brothers," said Allora. "This is Connell. And Dane. And my mate, Bron."
They all nodded a greeting, not stepping forward to clasp her hand, which was a relief to Nikolai. He knew in his heart of hearts that they meant her no harm. Rather the opposite. But his innate need to shelter her from all men still twisted in his gut. Especially after what the last ones had done to her.
Dane flicked his gaze to Nikolai, a tilted smile cracking his stern expression, as if he knew the torture Nikolai suffered. "Perhaps we'd best have this conversation tomorrow." He glanced up at the starry sky. "It will be snowing soon."
Nikolai tested the air with his senses, finding no smell of the weighty pressure before a storm or snowfall. "Are you sure?"
"Quite," said Dane. He stepped back toward the shadows. With a crackle of energy and a rippling pulse of power, he transformed into his husky brown wolf and fled into the woods. His brother nodded at Sienna again and, without saying a word, followed his brother. The many hart wolves that lurked in the dark and had watched Sienna's awakening now whisked away as well. Only the swift padding of their feet could be heard as they retreated into the woods.